Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation

Marius Gustavson, 46, made almost £300,000 through his "eunuch maker" website, which amassed a "staggering" 22,841 users, the Old Bailey was told.

The Norwegian national was the "mastermind" behind the "lucrative business" which shared images of "dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries" carried out by people with no medical qualifications, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said.

She said the "nature and scale" of the procedures, including penis removal, castration and freezing of limbs that needed to be amputated, "is without precedent".

Gustavson set up a pay-per-view website using the "swaggering" name "eunuch maker" to advertise his services, which became increasingly professional, she said.

Ms Carberry said it was "a remarkable feature" of the case that the website operated on the open web, accessible to "anyone who stumbled on it and had the inclination and means to pay to view the gruesome footage".

The court heard customers paid to view footage of a single procedure or could take out various levels of subscription, one of which cost £100 a year.

In one video shown in court, Gustavson - who had his own penis cut off, the tip of his nipple removed and his leg frozen so that it had to be amputated - is seen "tasting" a severed penis.

Ms Carberry said body parts, including testicles, were kept in his freezer, while Gustavson's own penis was found in a drawer in his home almost four years after it was amputated.

She said "some of the items may have been sold" while there "was clear evidence of cannibalism" and images found on his phone from 22 June 2018 show "he cooked some testicles for lunch".

"The images, from raw ingredients to an artfully arranged salad platter, were discovered by officers," she said.

The court was shown images of vegetables including potatoes, cucumber and tomatoes, with the testicles fried on a griddle pan, as well as what Ms Carberry said were "actual nuts" such as cashews.

The procedures were carried out at his home in north London, rented apartments or hotels, and the victims, including a 16-year-old boy, were promised money from the video revenue, the court heard.

'Arch manipulator'

"Arch-manipulator" Gustavson recruited like-minded individuals to assist him, Ms Carberry said.

"All of them consented to the procedures but all were themselves vulnerable to exploitation by him," the prosecutor added.

Ten men have been charged over their participation in the procedures over more than four years.

Gustavson, who now uses a wheelchair because of his amputation, appeared by video-link from Wandsworth prison at a sentencing hearing today, while six co-defendants appeared in the dock.

He, along with David Carruthers, 61, Janus Atkin, 37, Peter Wates, 67 and Ion Ciucur, 30, have previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm between 2016 and 2022.

Gustavson also admitted five more counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, making an indecent image of a child, possessing criminal property and possessing extreme pornographic images and three counts of distributing indecent pseudo-photographs of a child.

Ashley Williams, 32, and Stefan Scharf, 61, have also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and will also be sentenced.

Three other men have already been sentenced in connection with the case.

'Cult-like atmosphere'

"The Crown suggest that all of the defendants were to a greater or lesser extent motivated by the sexual element of the offending and financial gain," said the prosecutor.

She said "many of the men who underwent procedures consented to them" but the court heard from one victim, who can't be named for legal reasons, who said he was "tricked" and under the influence of drugs.

He said Gustavson created a "cult-like atmosphere" around him, which was "captivating and mesmerising" and "his veneer of respectability was a masterstroke".

The man, who sparked the investigation after he alerted police in 2019, said had "bought into a world that's incomprehensible to most people".

"I feel like a monster, a mug, a degenerate and a freak," he added, in a victim impact statement.

Ms Carberry said that although Gustavson's diagnosis of body integrity dysphoria may explain the mutilation of his own body it didn't explain the "lucrative business" of mutilating other people.

The defendants were all remanded in custody and the sentencing hearing continues on Friday.